London’s Burning and that Little Four-Letter Word: Riot

This past week was record-setting in terms of site visits to Territorial Masquerades. The extraordinary numbers had everything to do with the street protests in London. Events apparently sent people in droves to the Internet searching for anything related to E.P. Thompson’s writing on the the moral economy of the English crowd, which I’ve surveyed in a post that reviews his essay, “Moral Economy of the English Crowd.” Thompson warned against the deceptive simplicity of that little four-letter word—riot. I think there is a lot in that essay that can speak to recent events.

In related news, the journal Society and Space has put out a special virtual issue on “Urban Disorder and Policing,” a kind of greatest hits from the Environment and Planning family on urban revolt and repression. I like the piece by Peter jackson.